As with every kind of training when pregnant it is down to personal preference.

My preference has been to stop Olympic lifting with a barbell at 10/11 weeks.

I am already showing so there is the obvious risk of pulling the bar into my ever growing belly.

People who do carry on say that you adjust to the bump as it grows over time and get used to going around it. My main problem is this.. I have spend two years working on my technique with my clean and snatch; getting a good banana on, making contact my with hips, keeping the bar close and speed under the bar etc. I am just now getting comfortable and getting some decent weight on my clean but my snatch is still a working process.

In a seminar I attended with weightlifting coach Kazem Panjavi he used a cue of telling people ‘how many months pregnant’ they were based on how far the bar travelled away from them on the way up.

I personally do not want to spend the next 7 months undoing all the hard work of the last 2 years, which I will have to spend time correcting once the baby is here.

I am also finding that as I start producing more relaxin (the hormone that helps to relax the muscles and ligaments in preparation for your body growing and labour) my once extremely tight shoulders and upper back are now loosening off and I don’t feel as stable pulling a bar over head, at speed, in a wide snatch grip position. Narrow grip pressing and jerks feel fine, and wide grip for overhead squats are ok as the bar goes up slower and is easier to stabilise once up.

I have been working some snatch balance in the last few weeks to work on my speed under the bar but I am slowly losing confidence with them as my shoulders become more unstable. I will be sticking to overhead squats from now on I think.

There are of course other options like using dumbells or kettlebells for these movements. This will negate the problem of pulling a bar into/around a bump. I will still be cautious and start very light when performing snatches as the instability could end up pulling my shoulder out or tearing something nasty.

Naomi Bazeley

Naomi is a CrossFit Level 2 Trainer.
If you are looking for one on one coaching, nutritional advice or you are interested in getting in to CrossFit, Naomi can work with you to help you to achieve your goals.